Hi. I have spoken to DFD today re my annual review. I asked for 180.00 per month food/household but was told creditors only allow 140.00. I am currently allowed 150.00, eventually she advised me to ask for 160.00 instead. She said it is the creditors guidelines they have to follow. It's just getting harder to manage on this amount.
The upside is I didn't know I could have 15.00 personal hygiene allowance per month. I have not had this before so she said to ask for 25.00 a month instead. I wonder which guidelines they use, I don't thinkit is CCS.
Last edited by marsha1 on Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
I know I thought it was bit odd. I think I will put a post on for Declan from DFD and see if he responds. ahaow much do you get allowed for dental and haircuts Thanks kallis xx
I've not seen Declan for a few days. I hope he is around.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Hi Guys
Apologies, I was off for a few days.
Currently, Debt Free Direct proposals are prepared within the expeniditure limits set by CCCS guidelines. In our experience, £140 is the average amount that a single person needs for food and housekeeping expenditure. If you find your monthly expenditure in any area is more than in your current Income and Expenditure, let your case supervisor know and if you can provide proof of the increase, then the case supervisor will take this into account when deciding whether you can afford to increase your payments.
Declan - do you really think that £32 per week for food, toiletries and cleaning materials is realistic?? And do the majority of your clients agree with this?
Hi Melanie
For a single person we allow £140 for food and household goods each month. Separate to that we allow up to £50 for toiletries and clothing per month.
We have found that the vast majority of our clients find this very acceptable.
Ten years ago we were allowing £180 housekeeping for a single person. The percentage of people opting for an IVA over bankruptcy was much greater and the percentage of failures and variations was much lower.
The guidelines need updated to a more realistic level as even the maximum allowable by the CCCS are hard for people to live on. May still require help from family and friends just to survive and the guidelines do not differentiate between someone living at home with their parents or someone living alone in London. I accept it is not DFDs fault that the allowances are so miserly but I wonder if they find more people opting for bankruptcy as they just cannot afford the proposed IVA payments.
We don't find it acceptable Declan, it's just that we have no choice if we want to go into an IVA with your company! When I had my expenditure review what I actually spent on a monthly basis was disregarded and I was told I was only allowed X amount for this, Y amount for that, and Z amount for the other, and far from ending up with a monthly payment I could 'comfortably' afford as advertised in DFD's daily adverts in the national newspapers I am left with a monthly payment that could secure a hefty mortgage!
I dont think its just DFD its my IP Company too. I appreciate its to do with level of debt etc, but loads of people on here post about thier monthly payment and i am always staggered by how high mine is in comparrison. we pay £1000 p mth...
Looked in for 5 mins - Declan- your figures are nonsense - you say £140 per month plus £50 for add ons is acceptable to the vast majority of your clients - £32;30 or £43;84 - in this district neither would be sufficent> My mother-in- law is a single person aged 80. She is a frugal eater yet in the only shop here (Co-Op Supermarket) her food costs her between £47 and £51 each week. Not fancy food by a long chalk.If she were a client of your firm how on earth would she eat? Thank goodness I have an IP who lives in the real world not cloud cuckoo land.
Attitudes like this towards "allowances", coupled with creditors who are happy to see their customers squeezed dry is what has led to an overall failure rate of between 30-40% of IVAs generally over the five year period that they were proposed to run over.
My firm experiences a failure rate of under 10% - we use clients own figures - justifying increased spend over the CCCS maximum guidelines where necessary, and get 99% of our cases accepted. I fail to see why there is still so much inconsistency across the board, with people's own finances being manipulated at the excuse of meeting creditor requirements.
I agree with Michael about it not being IPs fault about the guideline figures - which incidentally have been updated this year with the result that no change was deemed necessary! - but surely IPs should work to the maximum figures to ensure that their clients can actually afford the payments, especially when a client discloses that they do actually spend more? IPs must stop being judge and jury and leave that to the creditors whose place this is.
